Characteristics of vertical air motion in isolated convective clouds

The vertical velocity and air mass flux in isolated convective clouds are statistically analyzed using aircraft in situ data collected from three field campaigns: High-Plains Cumulus (HiCu) conducted over the mid-latitude High Plains, COnvective Precipitation Experiment (COPE) conducted in a midlatitude coastal area, and Ice in Clouds Experiment-Tropical (ICE-T) conducted over a tropical ocean. The results show that small-scale updrafts and downdrafts ( 20 m s(-1) were sampled in COPE and ICE-T. The observed downdrafts are stronger in HiCu and COPE than in ICE-T. The PDFs of the air mass flux are exponentially distributed as well. The observed maximum air mass flux in updrafts is of the order 104 kg m(-1) s(-1). The observed air mass flux in the downdrafts is typically a few times smaller in magnitude than that in the updrafts. Since this study only deals with isolated convective clouds, and there are many limitations and sampling issues in aircraft in situ measurements, more observations are needed to better explore the vertical air motion in convective clouds.

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Author Yang, Jing
Wang, Zhien
Heymsfield, Andrew J.
French, Jeffrey R.
Publisher UCAR/NCAR - Library
Publication Date 2016-08-11T00:00:00
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Topic Category geoscientificInformation
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Metadata Date 2023-08-18T19:00:52.359147
Metadata Record Identifier edu.ucar.opensky::articles:18802
Metadata Language eng; USA
Suggested Citation Yang, Jing, Wang, Zhien, Heymsfield, Andrew J., French, Jeffrey R.. (2016). Characteristics of vertical air motion in isolated convective clouds. UCAR/NCAR - Library. http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d79g5pg6. Accessed 22 March 2025.

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